268 SCIENIDiE. 



THE WEAK EISH. 



WHEAT FISH.— SQUETE AQUE.- CHECOUTS. 



Otolithm Regalis — Cuvier, 



The trivial name of this fine fish lias never been very dis- 

 tinctly explained, some ascribing the title " Weak '' to the 

 delicacy of the mouth, which when hooked often tears away 

 from the barb ; otliers to the briefness of its resistance after 

 being struck, though at first it pull§ strongly. 



Yet a third explanation is, that Weak is a corruption from 

 " Wheat," because it comes into season when the wheat is ripe ; 

 this, however, is not the fact, as it is an early spring fish, though 

 taken through the summer months abundantly in the waters of 

 New York ; probably both names, Wheat and Weak, are really 

 corruptions from the Narragansett appellation by which it was 

 first known to the English settlers, Squeteaque. 



Its geographical range is very wide, extending from New 

 Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi, where it is styled 

 " Trout,'^ to the estuary and Gulf of the St. Lawrence. It has 

 also, it is said, been taken at Martinique. 



It is less common in the New York waters than formerly, 

 being savagely hunted by its deadly enemy, the Blue Fish 

 (Temnodon Saltator),\fh\ch has lamentably thinned its numbers. 

 Still it exists in sufficient numbers to give very exciting sport 

 to the shoal salt-water angler, and when quite fresh out of the 

 water is a very exquisite fish, its flavour greatly resembling that 



